CFZ “Curses” aren’t what has been holding this team back

[Bobhaze]

Didn't say culture doesn't matter. I said culture is defined by talent.

Don't have a quarterback, don't have a prayer. It is true for the Patriots and the inverse is true for the Chiefs.

I say talent is maximized by strong culture.

 

[CCBoy]

We disagree on that Mac. There are loads of studies that show how important culture is for all organizations. You must have talent and lots of it. BUT - Talent alone is never enough.

About ten years ago, Bill Parcells wrote a great article for the Harvard Business Review about how important culture is to winning in football. It was called ”The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team”. Link: https://hbr.org/2000/11/the-tough-work-of-turning-around-a-team

There are lots of teams of sports team at all levels who had loads of talent but can’t win often enough with it.
Just a few examples:

• Texas A&M has had a top ten recruiting class 4 years in a row, including the #1 class in 2022, and haven’t won more than 8 games in that time. Tons of talent. Not enough wins.
• Univ of Texas- also tons of talent year after year. Usually top talent in the Big 12. They are doing very well this year at 10-1. But they haven’t won the Big 12 in over a decade despite having loads of talent. Several Texas players who used to play there say culture has been bad for years.
• The Washington Capitols in the NHL had THE best player in Alex Ovechkin for years, winning tons of regular season games only to falter in the playoffs. Poor team culture was often mentioned as a problem.
• 1980s NY Yankees- The Yankee teams of the 1980s were centered around Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Steve Sax and Jesse Barfield. Most talented team in the league, hands down. HOFers galore and highest payroll. Never won a World Series.
• The 2004 Olympic “Dream Team”- had NBA superstars Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Dwyane Wade. They finished 3rd. A lack of chemistry and culture was cited.

This list could go on and on. Talent is a must in order to win. We certainly agree on that. But the teams who win when it matters most have a lot more than talent.

It definitely takes talent, but then it's team and in football with momentum changes, all have to do their jobs for almost all of a game.

Right now, I'd say the RG and RT are out of sink for the team. This could be remedied as simple as maintaining contact strongly for three seconds fully on that side of the ball. It's weak for two games now.

 

[Mark]

There is no proven "formula" for winning a SB; a hundred variables play into it. Talent is a huge leg-up, of course...but you also have to be damn lucky.

Does the most talent-laden team win the SB every year? Definitely not. Not even most years.

 

[kskboys]

There is no proven "formula" for winning a SB; a hundred variables play into it. Talent is a huge leg-up, of course...but you also have to be damn lucky.

Does the most talent-laden team win the SB every year? Definitely not. Not even most years.

Define "most talent". There are areas that are the most important to winning a super bowl. QB is #1, of course, that's obvious. Then come the O and Dlines.

OL rankings:

KC: 4th
Philly: 2nd

DL rankings:

KC: 11th
Philly: 4th

Generally speaking, the trenches must be at least decent.

 

[kskboys]

I think the Chargers have been cursed for decades, they have had several good to great teams and either failed to make the playoffs or lost in excruciating ways when they did make the playoffs. Kinda mind boggling actually.

One season the Chargers had both the #1 ranked O and D in the NFL. And failed to make the playoffs. 8-8.

And one year when they were clearly the best, they lost both Gates and LT before the champ game. Their two best O weapons.

 

[Diehardblues]

They despise Jerry.

But his product is good for business if it’s relative.

 

[kskboys]

No doubt Red Sox . How about the Cubs . But yea , these intangible factors are something that looms over a franchise .

I think that we could build a strong argument Jethro has been a curse .

And not just in the normal way which could be argued but the fact of how he runs Cowboys Football is quite the obstacle or handicap to overcome . That’s a curse of a different feather.

Curses are given credence by the belief thereoff. Belief affects play. That is the only way curses are real.

 

[Rayman70]

But his product is good for business if it’s relative.

True, so I guess it's a love hate thing.

 

[kskboys]

Trenches are important, for sure. QBs, not so much...as long as they don't actively lose the game for you. Look at all the s*** QBs who have Super Bowl rings.

Opposite. It's mostly the top QBs who are in the game every year. Look how often Brady/Wilson/Mahomes/PManning have been there the last few? The better your QB, the less of a team you need.

 

[Rayman70]

I think the Chargers have been cursed for decades, they have had several good to great teams and either failed to make the playoffs or lost in excruciating ways when they did make the playoffs. Kinda mind boggling actually.

True. I felt bad for Stan Humphries, Rivers. Both there teams were just almost cursed. When I married my wife in 98 one of the things that were gifted to us in our honeymoon was Charger tickets. Wade Phillips was the HC that year and John Freese and Ryan Leaf were the QBs. The game itself was crap. Low scoring,poor QB play but they won. That said, the one great memory we have about the game was at halftime where they retired Stan Humphries Jersey. Not a Charger fan, but Stan was a gritty QB, a winner and good dude. The curse for them was the fact they had to play the juggernaut in the Steve Young led niners in 1994. Nobody was beating that team. Any other opponent and they could have had a chance maybe. Rivers deserved better. Should have beaten the Patriots in the playoffs back then. I forget the year. I know Marty Shottenheimer was the HC. A fluky fumble gave Brady a chance to steal it and they did. I felt for the Chargers. They never sniffed a SB since then. That was 20 years ago I think.Fouts never really got his due. What a shame. But to be honest, no one cares about the Chargers. They are a small Market west coast team. An afterthought. The Cowboys, are the Yankees of the NFL. Much is expected when Tom Laundry got us to the playoffs for like 20 sum years . Fair or unfair, Dallas is in a drought. We lost our fearlessness and became complacent I think. But I think that may be changing. Something feels different lately. We shall see. Great comp. With the chargers.

 

[ryanbabs]

I think the Chargers have been cursed for decades, they have had several good to great teams and either failed to make the playoffs or lost in excruciating ways when they did make the playoffs. Kinda mind boggling actually.

Speaking of the Chargers curse, their only team that did make a Super Bowl in ‘94 had a string of their players die young. Really eerie to read about it.

 

[CowboyStar88]

The only curse I had believed in was JJ and the ROH. I hope that by finally putting him in they will be able to right that wrong and closing that chapter allowing the curse to be lifted.

 

[Roadtrip635]

True. I felt bad for Stan Humphries, Rivers. Both there teams were just almost cursed. When I married my wife in 98 one of the things that were gifted to us in our honeymoon was Charger tickets. Wade Phillips was the HC that year and John Freese and Ryan Leaf were the QBs. The game itself was crap. Low scoring,poor QB play but they won. That said, the one great memory we have about the game was at halftime where they retired Stan Humphries Jersey. Not a Charger fan, but Stan was a gritty QB, a winner and good dude. The curse for them was the fact they had to play the juggernaut in the Steve Young led niners in 1994. Nobody was beating that team. Any other opponent and they could have had a chance maybe. Rivers deserved better. Should have beaten the Patriots in the playoffs back then. I forget the year. I know Marty Shottenheimer was the HC. A fluky fumble gave Brady a chance to steal it and they did. I felt for the Chargers. They never sniffed a SB since then. That was 20 years ago I think.Fouts never really got his due. What a shame. But to be honest, no one cares about the Chargers. They are a small Market west coast team. An afterthought. The Cowboys, are the Yankees of the NFL. Much is expected when Tom Laundry got us to the playoffs for like 20 sum years . Fair or unfair, Dallas is in a drought. We lost our fearlessness and became complacent I think. But I think that may be changing. Something feels different lately. We shall see. Great comp. With the chargers.

Yeah, that flukey fumble happened when they picked Brady off in the endzone and instead of kneeling he attempted to run it out and fumbled it. Pats got it right back, scored a TD and won the game. There was only 3-4 minutes left in that game too and don't think the Pats had any timeouts left, if he kneeled it, there was a good chance they could just run out the clock. Brutal.

 

[Roadtrip635]

Speaking of the Chargers curse, their only team that did make a Super Bowl in ‘94 had a string of their players die young. Really eerie to read about it.

Yeah, don't tell Chargers fans there's no such things as curses.

 

[ArtClink]

I’m not at all a superstitious person so I don’t believe in curses. Sure it would be great if the 28 year drought we‘ve had was all about Jerry not putting Jimmy in the ROH. But unfortunately our playoff drought is really more about roster building, decision making, culture, toughness, habits, and sadly not playing our best football during the playoffs. JJ and SJ of course are at the center of all that.

In fairness, Jerry and Stephen have certainly done some good things for which credit is due:

• The elevation of Will McClay a few years ago has made our drafts so much better and delivered a major influx of talent.
• The hiring of Mike McCarthy (who is light years better than Garrett), has so far delivered back to back 12 win seasons and playoff appearances, which hadn’t happened since the 90s.
• The team finally won a road playoff game for the first time in 30 years.

Those are all good and all worthy of the almighty “credit” JJ so desperately craves.

But the next hurdle this team has to clear isn’t about some mysterious curse. It’s about playing great against the better teams in the playoffs. For a multitude of reasons, we have not played our best football when it mattered most. Until THAT changes, we won’t be rescued by a ROH induction, although I’m certainly glad to see it finally happen.

The breaking of curses are fun to talk about in sports. But in reality, winning playoff games is 100% dependent on the team’s ability to play its best when the stakes are at its highest.

Great post! I think waiting to win in a manner that gives the fuhrer the most glory is why we haven’t won a meaningful playoff game in 28 years. The draught can end if he would do the unthinkable and hire a real gm and a real hc w power to hire and fire. But no, it all has to be done so the fuhrer gets all the credit. Man 28 years is a long time and I don’t see us making the nfc championship game this year either.

 

[Blackrain]

I think the curse is Jerry's ego along with what's important to him.
Long ago I believe Jerry abandoned the super bowl being his ultimate goal I believe mega generational wealth and relevancy are his goals.

Super bowl rings and Lombardi trophies are nothing but trinkets to him. What fuels his fire is being on television every week being in the media in the limelight and making more money than any other football team in the league.

This business model quickly trickles down to his players as we watch them go for broke on their contracts and promote themselves at all cost maximizing the length of their careers and their earning capability.

It makes them appear very soft but in reality they are just not taking chances to win a ring when maximizing their career does them much more good in later life..

Jerry is an extremely hard driving force and gets what he wants his success in business shows this if he wanted another super bowl in 30 years he would have shot the works and got one.

Super bowls are only important to us fans people with his kind of wealth look at a much bigger picture and string us along giving us hope but we never find the pot at the end of the rainbow

 

[doomsday9084]

From when they fired Jimmy to when they hired Parcells, the Jones boys were legitimately awful GM's. The Galloway trade, Roy Williams, the drafting, some of the coaching decisions, etc. Really terrible. The on field results were the product of the GM'ing.

Parcells really turned things around and in a few years, he added quality players. Those players allowed the team to stay relevant through another period of poor GMing. The clapper never should have got that long. Some of the coordinator choices were pretty poor and the drafts spotty.

The last few years have seen another upswing. McClay is good. The coaching staff is good. Quite frankly, their cap management hasn't been a problem unlike in the past.

If there is any "bad luck" involved with 29 years of futility, its only for a few of them. Most of its been completely self inflicted.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Curses, tell Bill Buckner about there ain’t no curses

Manny killed the fruit-bat and made it all better.

 

[plasticman]

It has always seemed to me that playoff success often requires playoff experience. This playoff experience needs to be acquired consistently enough to be a part of the complete team's mentality.

The team that wins the championships, I believe, are the ones that wanted it the most. This is the motivation that drives the players to find another, higher level within themselves.

Many Cowboys fans today do not know what it feels like to lose a conference championship or Super Bowl. Consoling yourself with the fact that they went deep in the playoffs doesn't work until many years down the road.

Sometimes it only takes one or two playoff game losses for players and teams to understand what needs to be done during these rare opportunities.

Part of the reason the Cowboys won Super Bowl 6 was because they lost Super Bowl 5....in addition to two losses in NFL championship games prior to Super Bowls. They had to feel the pain. They won Super Bowl 6 because they refused to be denied. That is the mentality that is required.

There is no fear, no doubt, no excuses. They win because they just got to. When that opportunity arrives, there are no vacations in Cabo, interviews on TV shows, other pursuits of interest. The players that respect the opportunity will leave nothing back, they will give everything they are capable of giving. They never want to consider in the many following years, whether their lack of commitment was the deciding factor in a loss.

Even the team of the 90's went through an embarrassing loss in 1991 to the Lions by beating themselves with 4 turnovers.

Obviously, there are exceptions where a seemingly average team will rise from the ashes for a season and dominate. However, the general rule is that Super bowl champions had been winning for a few seasons or more until they were able to come together and put together a Super Bowl season.

 

[noshame]

Agreed Bob
But I think Quinn Is the reason Mike is successful and we're 7-3
Otherwise we'd likely be 6-4 at best and staring 9-8 in the face.